Most painful spot to get tattooed

[joakim urma]

Oh boy this thread sure makes me calm..

edit: planning to get some really shitty spots done next.

[2bacanvas]

When I had my sleeve done the elbow was the worst. I could feel the vibration of the needle thru my whole arm. Also the inside of my bicep close to my armpit was no walk in the park.

[Lee Hua]

I want to say my back was the worst especially on the spine and near my love handles. I wanted to punch my artist a few times during the the first session which was all outlining...A lot of line work as well... My next session is shading and I'm not looking forward to it.

[CABS]

Certain parts of the chest are just awful. Right up there with the elbow, imo.

[str8shuutr45]

When I had my sleeve done the elbow was the worst. I could feel the vibration of the needle thru my whole arm. Also the inside of my bicep close to my armpit was no walk in the park.

i would definitely agree with this... inside of the bicep close to the armpit feels intense. The elbow wasn't too bad with me although it did make me sit up and focus on the pain more...

[mike456]

Good to know

[pidjones]

My only tattoo so far is a 4" wide x 3" high b&g over my left breast about 3" above the nipple. It was aggravating at most - although she drilled it much deeper for the touch-up and it was obvious! It really only was disagreeable (both times) when she worked the edge near my arm pit. And, I'm allergic to pain! I'm now booked for a wrap-around on my arm starting about an inch above the elbow crease and going as high as she needs. I suspect the first experience will be nothing like this one, as I had been rear-ended on the way to the first one, and I'm sure I had lots of natural chemicals flowing still.

[deadsp0t]

Had a hand sized rose done on my elbow yesterday, was not nearly as bad as I was told to expect. Was really only marginally worse than my ditch. I will say near the end it was getting a little uncomfortable, even the day after hasn't been bad.

[Chris Stebbins]

top of the knee, behind knee, sternum, then groin - in that order

[tatB]

how bad are the ribs? thinking about starting a rib panel sooner rather than later but i'm imagining a very uncomfortable experience.

[ironchef]

@BrianH Back of the ribs on my back piece were no joke. Almost caused me to tap out a few times.

[Graeme]

how bad are the ribs? thinking about starting a rib panel sooner rather than later but i'm imagining a very uncomfortable experience.

I can only speak of the ribs as part of the back, but I don't find them to be even close to the worst part of the back. They hurt, but it's a regular kind of tattoo hurt (just sharper and more intense) where a lot of other parts of the back fall into straight-up awful territory.

[tatB]

@BrianH Back of the ribs on my back piece were no joke. Almost caused me to tap out a few times.

that is exactly what i'm imagining, especially the outline. my plan would be to ask henning to start lining my ribs then move on to finishing my thigh when i become dehydrated from crying so much. but the smart choice might be just finish my thigh so i can focus on my back piece.

[ironchef]

@BrianH Everyone is a little different on pain threshold. Have a female friend who got a phoenix rib piece. Sat through the whole outline and color session in one shot without even wincing. I had no concept of how terrifying the back was and its gotten better over the several sessions of work but them ribs are SPICY!

Inner thigh is no picnic either and healing has been very tender. But you'll always be happy with the results!

[Fala]

I think the butt area and kidney areas are worse than the ribs, but I haven't had my spine worked on yet... Don't worry about it @BrianH, the pain's temporary.

[tatB]

So it sounds like getting my ribs outline would be a good way to mentally prepare for brutal backpiece sessions?

[ironchef]

So it sounds like getting my ribs outline would be a good way to mentally prepare for brutal backpiece sessions?

Curious, who are you getting to do your ribs and what will the piece be of? Size?

[tatB]

Curious, who are you getting to do your ribs and what will the piece be of? Size?

Henning Jorgensen. I think you know him. :)

I only need about 4 hours to finish off my thigh so I'm tempted to start my ribs while I'm in NY. Thinking either a hannya or koi with maples leaves to tie into the tiger/maple leaves on my thigh and hannyas/maple leaves on my arm. It would be a full chest/rib panel. Still need to discuss this plan with Henning though...

[ironchef]

@BrianH Yeah, I think heard of him ;)

Man that's not just ribs, but also the chest too I'm assuming. So like a partial muneware??? I'm personally cringing at the thought. You are braver than I am bro. No torso tattoos for me.

[tatB]

@ironchef

exactly this would be the left half of a munewari ... i figure i can survive 2 hours of outlining the rib/chest/stomach area then he can move onto finishing my thigh. this way i don't have to suffer through shading immediately after outlining that area.

[ironchef]

@BrianH I think something that large and depending on the details, might take more than 2 hours for Henning to outline. Just to give you a sense with the phoenix on my back, granted there's a lot of feather details, etc, took him about 4-5 hours to line that. If you can squeeze it in, I'd say go for it bro!

[tatB]

@BrianH I think something that large and depending on the details, might take more than 2 hours for Henning to outline. Just to give you a sense with the phoenix on my back, granted there's a lot of feather details, etc, took him about 4-5 hours to line that. If you can squeeze it in, I'd say go for it bro!

good point 2 hours would just be the start of the outline. i'll see what Henning thinks about this idea.

[Nazara]

My first one was painful, so don't know much about other areas. it was chest and shoulder blade area.

[9Years]

how bad are the ribs? thinking about starting a rib panel sooner rather than later but i'm imagining a very uncomfortable experience.

I've got both rib panels almost fully covered and I think the healing is worse than the application. My left side involved a lot of travel to finish and therefor some long-ass sittings (a few 7/8hr sessions) which I had totally psyched myself up for...they were worse in my head than in reality.

The next few days, however, sucked. Very tender and not-so-mobile. I find that area takes a long time for the skin to feel normal. In my experience lifting my arms over my head or stretching my sides was really weird for several weeks after the skin was healed.

[Mick Weder]

@9Years. I was the opposite. I found the ribs, and both solid panels to heal extremely fast, no discomfort at all and all just flake heal within the week. They healed so fast and easy we were trying to work out as to why. We just put it down to blood flow/ organs etc. Nothing to back that theory up of course, just a drinking edumacated guess.

The application though, there was areas that were real tough for me, drilling into the floating rib area, carving between the ribs, man oh fkn man...it took everything I had to maintain composure. They fucked me out both physically and mentally.

Ya just won't know mate until your lying under that machine, on the day. But as @9Years mentioned, prepare yourself for it mentally, that's the key.

I've made the mistake in the past walking into sessions thinking ...walk in the park. I've learned to always treat every session with the respect they deserve.